The present invention relates to a method and a device for location-specific detection of a luminescence event or for detection of a luminescence signal in, at, or in the immediate vicinity of a cell to be analyzed.
A device according to the species for optical examination of a cell is known from EP 0 881 490 A2. This device has a substrate, particularly a semiconductor substrate, with a surface suitable for accepting cells, a number of photodetectors formed below the surface, and multiple light sources above the surface. The detectors arranged in a matrix pick up the light emitted by the light sources, which brings about various light intensities at various detectors, which are governed by a cell placed on the surface, from which information on the geometry of the cell can be obtained.
For some applications, for example in pharmaceutical research, it is particularly relevant to be able to investigate the behavior of cells in response to a chemical or biochemical stimulus. Investigating metabolic processes in living cells is particularly useful since for example the influence of a new potential drug can thereby be observed. One measurement frequently performed in this connection is intracellular calcium determination by calcium-sensitive dyes, Fura II for example. A. L. Miller, E. Karplus, L. F. Jaffe: “Coelenterate Imaging [Ca2+]i with Aequorin Using a Photon Imaging Detector,” Meth Cell Bio. 40, 305 (1994) teaches the loading of cells, for example by osmotic shock treatment, with a bioluminescent substance, for example aequorin. Intracellular calcium signals as responses to chemical excitation are made visible due to the bioluminescence of aequorin.
What is needed is a compact and relatively easily realizable device and a corresponding method for detecting cellular processes by luminescence measurements using chemical or biochemical stimuli.